If you weren’t convinced that Google is trying to take over the world – enter Google+. And I know we were all just foaming at the mouth for a new social network to keep tabs on our friends. While I personally and professionally believe Google may change the game a little with their new offering – is it going to be accessible to blind and visually impaired users?
Google’s track record with accessibility is a shaky one. We discussed our perception of Google’s concept of accessibility a few weeks ago, and many could safely assume this service is only an extension of that. I sure did, and while I’m not convinced Google really keeps our community at the forefront of their development agenda, Google+ seems decently accessible out of the box. I’d like to qualify that explanation a bit.
Sure – it’s not 100% accessible, but according to Google, the service isn’t really completely finished in the first place. I should preface the rest of my statements with the fact that I’m using Voiceover for Mac OSX with Safari as my browser. I got my invite earlier this evening and I’ve taken around 30 minutes to just browse the site a little. Here’s what I think so far:
- Browsing is Decent – It’s not perfect. The page seems to “refresh” as I navigate, which causes Voiceover to loose focus. There are also windows that pop in and out of focus, which can always be tricky for screen reader users. When adding a user to your Circles, there is a frame that appears at the bottom of the screen to select which Circle the user will be added to.
- Some Edit Fields Aren’t Usable – I’ve encountered this in a few situations this week. I implemented the Disqus comment system on my personal blog – and the field where users input text for the comment isn’t “reachable” to Voiceover. I had a developer tell me that it’s possibly do to a custom edit field type. I’m not a developer, so I really can’t say anything about that. However – the same notion is at play with Google+. The “Search for Friends” and “Leave a Comment” fields don’t give any spoken feedback as I type. It’s frustrating, especially if I make a typo – and I do.
- Chat Features Work Remarkably Well> – I’ve been a big fan of Google’s text, audio and video based chat systems for a while. I’m impressed at the clarity of the audio and video you get with them. The chat experience is no different in Google+ – with the exception that I think it’s better. Once you connect with a user in a chat, a new frame is launched within the page, which you can find by navigating all the way to the bottom of the screen. I will say this – there are quite a few unlabeled buttons in the chat window. Google could clean that up some.
- Images Are Clunky and Unlabeled – Facebook suffers from this issue – and it kills me. I don’t want to know the filename and path of a friend’s profile picture. Could you just report their name instead? Google+ shows the images of friends and such, but unfortunately they either say “Photo” or the user’s numeric ID. Not useful.
- Hangouts Work Very Well – Admittedly, I haven’t been able to get a friend to “hangout” with me on Google+, but on a fairly in-depth glance, this feature looks quite accessible. Hangouts is a multi-user video chat feature that is super easy to launch. There’s a built-in chat room, the ability to mute video and audio, and a very innovative feature where YouTube videos can be shown to all parties connected to the chat simultaneously. I think this feature is neat and could be useful to our community.
- Remember the Issue With Voiceover Focus? – It really becomes an issue when clicking the +1 button on an item – the cornerstone of Google’s social agenda. Using the button itself works fine, but Voiceover takes me back to the top of the “Stream” once I +1 something. It’s a bit irritating.
- Options Button Crashes Safari – The only serious bug I’ve found so far is one that crashes Safari when the “Options” button next to an update in your stream. I assume this gives you some options specific to the user or their content, but I’ve had no luck gaining access to it without the browser restarting.
This is a quick and dirty run through of some of the features found on Google+ and how they pertain to accessibility. If you are one of the lucky few to get an invite, I’d love to hear your take on the platform. While I certainly don’t expect the Google+ service to cripple any of the other major players in social media, I certainly think their approach with Circles is one that many users will rejoice over. I don’t expect a mass exodus from Facebook, but I do believe the blindness community needs to continue holding Google’s feet to the fire on making it’s web offerings, including Google+, accessible to all major screen readers, which includes Voiceover.
Have you given Google+ a test drive? What was your initial take away? Anything that Google got right on this first attempt? Where should they focus improvements? Share your thoughts and impressions in the comment section.
It seems like there is a major disconnect between the various teams at google and the accessibility teams. I don’t know how things are decided there but it always seems to be a convoluted mixed bag.
Mike – I think you’re absolutely on to something here. Google has the tools to make all of its offerings accessible to our community, but the development and engineering folks don’t have the time and resources to get a pulse on our needs – and that’s where the accessibility folks should come into the equation. I think we may be victim to terrible organizational communication – and unfortunately, this type of bad communication isn’t rare. The worst part is that I believe Google has sullied our trust of them so much that they’re going to have to work even more diligently to regain it. I still have hope for them – and I bet you do, too.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about this and hoping I’ll get to play with it soon. Despite Google’s past record, I’m quietly optimistic. They’re at least considering accessibility in some of their other products, such as chrome and for once VoiceOver users are not being left out of that which is refreshing, so here’s hoping.
I’m with you on this, Marie. I think Google is beginning to really listen to us on these things. I just saw a tweet from the Google Access account where they said they explicitly considered accessibility when developing the service. I don’t know at what point that consideration was in regards to the overall development process – but we can only sit back and see what they do now.
I think we need to keep standing our ground with Google and passionately insisting they hear us out. I have no doubt that they’ll continue to be a huge player in the web game and if we don’t get in on the ground level – we face the risk of being left out when it counts. Thanks for your comment – and stay tuned for the winners of our little “contest”.
I have found that, in some instances, I have to do a Control, Option, Shift, Space on an item in order to enter text in it using VoiceOver. I am not sure this is the case with Google+, but it may be something to try. You also sometimes have to interact with the field first in order for this to work.
I hope this helps.
- Rick
Like most Google services, Accessibility seems to have no priority at Google.
Some services like GMail have a simple screen reader view, but by itself it is not a 100% alternative for the normal GMail view.
In Google+ an essential action like adding a friend to your circle seems to be impossible with a screen reader.
If you have many visually impaired in your social network you can better stay on Facebook.
Peter: I think you raise a very valid point about accessibility not having much priority. I believe much of it has to do with the communication flow and structure at Google – which is typical of many organizations. The “vertical” means of communication most likely dooms our access needs to the bottom rung of the communication ladder.
I’m in the social marketing industry, so I’ve perked my ears up a little more with this particular network. Google will, at least in the foreseeable future, not be going anywhere. Will this social network fly? Depends on adoption. The blindness community plays a fractional role in that adoption.
Adding users to circles isn’t impossible – just irritating and inconsistent. I’m doing it each and every day, so it is doable. Switching views, such as “Posts” and “About”, isn’t accessible. – or, at least with Voiceover it isn’t. The custom form elements and controls prove to be an annoyance, and while typing in many edit fields, Voiceover refuses to provide typing feedback. All in all – there’s some concerns I have with the service and, unfortunately, Google Access, or the company at-large, won’t seem to address our feedback. That being said, I do see greater potential for this product compared to any other Google offering.